The Hopewell Valley Central High School wrestling team has a pretty sizeable gap to fill this season.
A 220-lb. gap, to be specific.
The Bulldogs lost Mike Markulec, one of the state’s top wrestlers, to graduation this year. The upper weight mainstay placed fifth in the state tournament and first in the Mercer County tournament two years in a row and holds school records in single-season wins (tied with 40) single-season win percentage (95.2 percent), career wins (137), career win percentage (86.7 percent), pins in a season (27) and career pins (71).
Also missed is 182 pounder Evan Carlton, who sits at fifth in single-season wins (tied with 33), second in pins in a season (tied with 22) and sixth in career wins (87) for the school and finished second in the county for two consecutive years.
“It’s going to be hard to fill that upper weight, but I feel like in the lower weights, we’ll make up for it as kids are gaining experience,” said senior Owen Clarke, who wrestles in the 138-lb. slot. “We have a lot of good guys coming in.”
That includes freshmen with middle school experience, first-time wrestlers and guys who wrestled JV last season, said assistant coach Eric Guise. He cited sophomores Josh deDufour (182 pounds), Spencer Brost (106 pounds) and Will Ortman (220 pounds); freshmen Amos Barnes (138 pounds) and Ben Markulec (182 pounds); and senior Chris Balint (195 pounds) as some relative newcomers who help fill some holes.
“We have to rely on the incoming talent,” he said. “With some of those kids, some new wrestlers, we should be able to fill the spot. It’s basically focusing on our JV team in the years prior to this year that helps us out later on. Now, they’re getting into the position where they can fill some spots for us.”
With 17 freshmen and sophomores—more than half of the team—Hopewell is young this year. But senior Mark Gerstacker said youth can be a good thing.
“I like that,” he said. “It means that as we progress, we’ll still be as good as we are. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores. They’ll do well this year, but they’ll do even better down the line.”
And lots of the underclassmen with wrestling experience come from the Timberlane Middle School team or youth programs like the Hopewell Valley Jr. Bulldogs. Junior Austin Roskos said that puts them a step ahead when they come to high school.
“Having a good feeder program definitely helps the program be successful,” he said. “And we have a great feeder program. We have a great youth program, too.”
Gerstacker agreed.
“We have a good system, and we have very good coaches, even at the middle school level,” he said. “They learn how to be the best in the county from the time that they’re 11 years old, so that’s why we’ve had all this success.”
They certainly have seen their fair share of good seasons. Last year, the Bulldogs extended their streak of consecutive Colonial Valley Conference and Mercer County titles to six and went 18-5 in matches.
In addition to the new talent, head coach Mario Harpel expects several returning veterans to help keep that streak alive, including Gerstacker.
“We look to him for some leadership and guidance,” he said. “We have some other great seniors in [Clarke] and John Godfrey. They’re all taking care of us.”
Roskos is another standout at 126 pounds. Gerstacker handles the 132 pound bouts, while Godfrey is at 160 pounds. Gerstacker won the county tournament in his weight class last year, while Roskos finished second.
The quartet of Gerstacker, Clarke, Godfrey and Roskos is working to help its younger counterparts adapt to varsity wrestling.
“I’ve been breaking off my partners and going to kids who have a chance to step into the lineup,” Clarke said. “It’s just kind of stepping out of my drilling and teaching kids that have potential, making little changes here and there, just to make sure that everything is improving.”
Godfrey believes that once the newcomers adapt to the varsity squad’s environment in the gym, they’ll start to improve.
“We have a certain work ethic in the room,” he said. “When new guys come into the program, even guys who have only wrestled one or two years, they learn really quickly how we work and the hard work that we put in. As soon as they’re here for a week, they’re already acclimated to how hard everyone works to get here.”
Harpel shared the sentiment—the team’s success stems from the energy it puts out in its practices.
“We’re getting better,” he said. “The flow of practice is better, and the intensity has picked up. We’re right on track. They’re all good. Thirty kids, and they’re all good. They work hard, and they’re really looking good.”
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